In their experiments, the students, led by professor Tom Li, discovered that the optimal number of layers for musical genre recognition was three convolutional (or "thinking") layers, with the first layer taking in the raw input data and the third layer outputting the genre data.

He developed the sequential decoding techniques for convolutional codes that made error-free communication possible with relatively low computing power - enabling the subsequent development of modern strategies used by the Internet, cellular phones, and deep-space transmissions.